The South’s two largest Covid-19 vaccination centres are to remain open for the foreseeable future.
As the national Covid-19 vaccination drive began, the Southern District Health Board set up two large-scale vaccination clinics, in Meridian Mall in Dunedin and the Victoria Room at Invercargill’s Civic Theatre, to manage the expected hundreds of people getting a shot daily.
The centres, in conjunction with primary health providers across Otago and Southland, have excelled and the SDHB region was one of the first in New Zealand to achieve 90% of the population having had their first dose of the vaccine.
Despite demand for their services having slowed considerably, the two big clinics still had a job to do, SDHB Covid-19 vaccine rollout lead Karl Metzler said.
‘‘We can expect booster shots and vaccinations for children to be introduced, and demand among those who are not yet vaccinated may increase when we start to have Covid cases in our community,’’ he said.
‘‘The sites have been an important part of the programme and having the ability to scale up again as needed is very helpful.’’
The hubs were also a useful base for vaccination teams heading out to remote communities on vaccination drives and for ongoing outreach activity, Mr Metzler said.
A total of 347 people in the SDHB region had received a third primary dose of the Pfizer vaccine, Mr Metzler said.
Last month, the Government recommended anyone who was over 12 and severely immunocompromised should receive an extra dose of vaccine to provide them with greater protection from Covid-19.
